By Liana B. Baker(Reuters) - Comcast Corp's proposed $45.2 billion takeover of Time Warner Cable Inc could face close scrutiny from U.S. antitrust regulators because of the deal's potential to reshape the country's pay TV and broadband markets.

The U.S. Justice Department has launched an investigation to see whether cable companies are intentionally try to hurt the growth of Internet-based TV providers in order to preserve their own monopolies. In the past several years, as web-based video companies like YouTube, Hulu, Netflix (NFLX), Yahoo (YHOO), and others [...]